Friends, family mourn death of sophomore

By Bobby Philbrook

Patrick Wroe, a sophomore business major remembered by his friends for being the "life of the party," was killed in a Dec. 22 car accident after picking up a friend. He had just turned 20.

Speed may have been a main factor in the accident that killed Wroe and friend Shane McDonough-Flynn, 19, in Barnstable, Mass., according to Massachusetts police.

Wroe was visiting family over winter break in his hometown of Barnstable, a town near Cape Cod. He was driving with McDonough-Flynn early in the morning of Dec. 22 in a BMW belonging to Wroe's father.

According to Sgt. Sean Sweeney, a Barnstable police spokesman, Wroe was driving on Seapuit Road, a "fairly long neighborhood side street," when his car flew off of a bend in the road, colliding with trees and several boulders before stopping. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene.

"The car was pretty devastated," Sweeney said. "You couldn't tell it was a BMW."

The accident remains under investigation by the Barnstable Police Department, and an official cause is pending. However, according to Sweeney, preliminary investigations show that speed was the main contributing factor.

Barnstable police arrived at the scene at 12:13 a.m., Sweeney said. The car was found on its roof in a wooded area off the road.

Wroe grew up in Osterville, a village within the city of Barnstable. His family moved to Lake Forest, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, where he attended fourth through eighth grade. Wroe and his family eventually moved back to Cape Cod. He graduated from Barnstable High School in 2005 and enrolled in Santa Clara later that fall.

"He was my best friend since we met in Swig last year," said Brian Shumway, a junior philosophy major. "He was just a really, really fun guy. The life of the party. And he could read people really well."

Shumway attended the Catholic funeral at Our Lady of Victory Church on Dec. 28 in Cape Cod. Wroe's family and friends made up the approximately 120 people at the service.

"He could light up a room," said his mother, Margaret. "He was one of those people everyone seemed to know. He was one of a kind."

Wroe is survived by his parents, David and Margaret, three brothers, four sisters and many uncles, aunts, friends and other relatives.

"The family held a wake for him the first night," Shumway said. "It was an awful, awful thing, seeing so many people so hurt. But I felt so honored when Pat's dad asked me to be a pall bearer at the funeral."

Wroe subleased at "Ice House" on Lafayette Street this fall and was well liked by his roommates. Gino Alvarez, a fellow business major, met him last year, but grew closer with him when they became housemates.

"He was always down to have fun, but liked doing his own thing, too," said Alvarez. "He absolutely loved cars. He would spend all day researching them online."

For Lauren McKennan, who lived in Swig with Wroe last year, returning to school was difficult.

"I walk past his old room at Ice House everyday on my way to class and just wonder why I get to be here and he doesn't," McKennan said. "Why did my mom get to drop me off at school, but he's never coming back? It's so hard."

Wroe is the second Santa Clara student to die in a car accident this year, following the death of senior Nenveh Essa in Milpitas in October.

Students and staff were notified of Wroe's death in an e-mail sent out on Dec. 22, 2006, on behalf of Campus Ministry. A follow-up from Jeanne Rosenberger, vice provost for student life, included the address for letters of condolence to Wroe's parents.

Donations can be made to the Hannah and Friends charity, P.O. Box 1218, Granger, IN 46530.

A memorial service for Wroe will be held in the Mission Church, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. Wroe's parents will be in attendance. Shumway is working with Campus Ministry to organize the memorial.

"I want to be as involved in this as I can," Shumway said.

Contact Bobby Philbrook at (408) 554-4546 or rphilbrook@scu.edu.